


Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired

by flawsinthevoodoo



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Coming Out, Gift Fic, Happy Ending, M/M, Minor Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-08 05:05:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3196382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawsinthevoodoo/pseuds/flawsinthevoodoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For lisztomanias, I hope you like this! Thanks to svmadelyn for being our benevolent overlord during this process and making sure we had an Exchange at all. Also, many thanks to thedronesneedyou on tumblr for handholding me through the dialog and beta-ing the mess of punctuation I sent you.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lisztomanias](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lisztomanias/gifts).



> For lisztomanias, I hope you like this! Thanks to svmadelyn for being our benevolent overlord during this process and making sure we had an Exchange at all. Also, many thanks to thedronesneedyou on tumblr for handholding me through the dialog and beta-ing the mess of punctuation I sent you.

Shoulder aching and still in his gameday suit, Brandon flops face down on his bed before the door has even finished clicking shut behind him. Mashing his face into the soft bedspread he lays there for a minute, taking some time to catalog his body’s latest damage. He can feel the bruises forming where Demers rode him into the boards in the second, and his ankle isn’t thrilled with how’s he’s been treating it lately, but nothing else seems too bad now that he’s been iced and massaged post-game. Mostly he just feels tired, tired of travel, tired of losing, tired of making stupid choices (or at least being told he had). One of his better choices is probably sitting four doors down waiting for him.

 

The impatient frown Alex had worn last time he was late pops into Brandon’s head and he can’t help the fond expression that creeps over his face. They had gotten together after the Christmas party last year, a feat Gally still takes credit for, the little shit. Brandon had been against it in the beginning, feeling too old to be dating this bright-eyed, wild-haired rookie, but enamoured with the man he had gotten to know off the ice. He thanks his lucky stars that Alex was nothing if not persistent and had never been afraid to work hard for the things he wants. Alex is one of the best things that has ever happened to him right up there with being drafted. This is the first night on the road trip where it has been feasible for Brandon to spend the night with his boyfriend, and he’s spending it with a generic hotel comforter. It’s that thought that gets him up and moving again, even though he would really very much like to go to sleep right where he is sprawled out, suit and all. It would be good to take a nap right then, but it would be so much better to go and curl up with Alex.

 

Ten minutes later and freshly showered, Brandon finds himself listening to the hallway through his door as Emmy, Marky and Gonch decide to go get some dinner together. He feels himself go tense when Marky suggests they ask Alex to join them but Gonch says something that is beyond Brandon’s limited Russian comprehension, and they leave without knocking on anyone else’s door. Then he has to wait for the rookies to get their act together, for Larry to gather up his crew, and for the room service cart to come and go to the room next door. It takes almost another half hour for the coast to be clear, or as clear as it’s going to get. As soon as he can, Brandon darts down the hallway and knocks on the door of Alex and Brendan’s room. Brendan answers the door with a smirk.

 

“About time you showed up. Chucky here was getting on my nerves. Dealing with his pissy behavior is totally your show, not mine.”

 

Brandon is about to respond when the undoubtedly displeased voice of his boyfriend issues from further inside the room. “Just let him in and get out, Gally.”

 

Now worried, Brandon shoves his room-key into Gally’s hand and shoulders his way past him into the room. Alex isn’t as sunny as Brendan, but he isn’t a grumpy person by nature, and hearing that tone of waspiness in his voice doesn’t bode well for Brandon’s planned night of cuddling and sleeping. He can hear Gally behind him mutter “good luck” as shuffles out of the room. As soon as he turns the corner, he sees Alex’s lanky frame folded uncomfortably into the room’s desk chair, backlit by the light leaking from the gap in the curtains.

 

“Alex?” he asks, moving closer so he can get a better read on Alex’s face as he searches for a light switch. “Babe?”

 

The shadowy figure of his boyfriend, his head in his hands, shrugs, “It’s not enough, Prusty. We’re not doing enough. I’m not doing enough.”

 

He raises his head as Brandon finally finds the switch on a lamp and flicks it on. The light reveals little to comfort him. Alex’s hair is sticking up where he’s been running his hands through it, and his eyes look a little red-rimmed and wild.

 

“What the hell do we do, Prusty?”

 

Brandon sighs, running a hand over his face. The stress of the road trip and all of the losses have clearly been getting to Alex. Brandon wishes he had been able to talk to him earlier before he had gotten so distressed. He walks over and bends down slightly so he’s looking Alex in the eyes.

 

“You wanna know what we do, Chuck? We order room service, watch that Pixar movie you like so much. We got to bed and then? In the morning we get up and do it all over again. Only this time, we win.”

 

That finally gets a smile out of Alex, who looks down at him, probably about as fondly as Brandon is looking up, and says “You know that’s not how this works, right?”

 

“But it would be great if it did, eh?”

 

Alex’s smile is brighter now. “Yeah.”

 

It is hours before Brandon finally gets the sleep he needs, but as he drifts off, stomach full of steak and arms full of Alex, he is pretty sure it’s worth it.

\-------------------------------------

 

He is woken in the early hours of the morning by the sound of muttered whispering. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the two Gallys have kept him from his sleep. Brandon is careful to stay still and keep his breathing even until he can figure out what the argument is about this time.

 

“--going to find out.” Alex sounds a little panicky, but just before Brandon can move to comfort him, Brendan responds.

 

“Well he’s your boyfriend. You kick him out if you’re so scared!”

 

“I am not scared!” Alex whispers fiercely.

 

“That’s not what it’s sounding like over here, Chucky.”

 

“Don’t call me that,” Alex snaps, “and I’m not scared. I’m careful. You saw him after that mess with the Penguins. He clearly doesn’t want anyone to know about us.”

 

“Well then, maybe you should figure out what you want, but Larry definitely saw me coming out of Prusty’s room this morning in my PJ’s, and you know Ticker saw me during playoffs at least once.”

 

“I know.” Alex sounds resigned, not a tone Brandon likes to hear from him.

 

“Alright then. I’m going to go to breakfast and give you two some time to be ‘careful,’” Brandon says, clearly mocking.

 

Feeling a little panic himself, Brandon waits a minute before turning over to let Alex know he woke up. Alex jumps a little at the noise.

 

“So--” Alex cuts him off before he can even begin to speak.

 

“You should get back to your room before the guys decide to head down to breakfast and see you.”

 

Brandon has to close his eyes as the feeling of tiredness from the night before comes crashing down over him again. “What if I don’t?”

 

“What if you don’t what?” asks Alex, clearly confused.

 

“What if I don’t run and hide back in my room. What if I just go when I am ready, no matter who might see me?”

 

“Prusty, Brandon, we talked about, didn’t we want to wait to come out? Because the media and--”

 

“Fuck the media, I want to be able to sleep in with my boyfriend, I want to be able to give you a hug when you look down after a game, kiss you when you make your adorable confused face, yep, like the one you’re making right now. Besides, the media is going to be so distracted for a while with the whole Crosby-Malkin thing they’ll bare--” Brandon is cut off as he suddenly acquires an armful of beaming boyfriend as Alex presses happy kisses all over his face repeating “I love you.”

  
  
 


End file.
